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Eastern Australia 3D geological and hydrogeological surfaces update, Version 2.0: Report and data package of updated Great Artesian Basin and Lake Eyre Basin surfaces extending to additional onshore-offshore eastern Australian basins

This report, completed as part of Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future Program National Groundwater Systems (NGS) Project, presents results of the second iteration of 3D geological and hydrogeological surfaces across eastern Australian basins.

The NGS project is part of the Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program—an eight-year, $225 million Australian Government funded geoscience data and precompetitive information acquisition program. The program seeks to inform decision-making by government, community, and industry on the sustainable development of Australia's mineral, energy, and groundwater resources, including those to support the effective long-term management of GAB water resources.


This work builds on the first iteration completed as part of the Great Artesian Basin Groundwater project. The datasets incorporate infills of data and knowledge gaps in the Great Artesian Basin (GAB), Lake Eyre Basin (LEB), Upper Darling Floodplain (UDF) and existing data in additional basins in eastern Australia. The study area extends from the offshore Gulf of Carpentaria in the north to the offshore Bight, Otway, and Gippsland basins in the South and from the western edge of the GAB in the west to the eastern Australian coastline to the east. The revisions are an update to the surface extents and thicknesses for 18 region-wide hydrogeological units produced by Vizy & Rollet, 2022. The second iteration of the 3D model surfaces further unifies geology across borders and provides the basis for a consistent hydrogeological framework at a basin-wide, and towards a national-wide, scale.


The stratigraphic nomenclature used follows geological unit subdivisions applied: (1) in the Surat Cumulative Management Area (OGIA - Office of Groundwater Impact Assessment, 2019) to correlate time equivalent regional hydrogeological units in the GAB and other Jurassic and Cretaceous time equivalent basins in the study area and (2) in the LEB to correlate Cenozoic time equivalents in the study area. Triassic to Permian and older basins distribution and thicknesses are provided without any geological and hydrogeological unit sub-division. Such work helps to (1) reconcile legacy and contemporary regional studies under a common stratigraphic framework, (2) support the effective management of groundwater resources, and (3) provide a regional geological context for integrated resource assessments.


The 18 hydrogeological units were constructed using legacy borehole data, 2D seismic and airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data that were compiled for the first iteration of the geological and hydrogeological surfaces under the GAB groundwater project (Vizy & Rollet, 2022a) with the addition of:

• New data collected and QC’d from boreholes (including petroleum, CSG [Coal Seam Gas], stratigraphic, mineral and water boreholes) across Australia (Vizy & Rollet, 2023a) since the first iteration, including revised stratigraphic correlations filling data and knowledge gaps in the GAB, LEB, UDF region (Norton & Rollet, 2023) with revised palynological constraints (Hannaford & Rollet 2023),

• Additional AEM interpretation since the first iteration in the GAB, particularly in the northern Surat (McPherson et al., 2022b), as well as in the LEB (Evans et al., in prep), in the southern Eromanga Basin (Wong et al., 2023) and in the UDF region (McPherson et al., 2022c), and

• Additional 2D seismic interpretation in the Gulf of Carpentaria (Vizy & Rollet, 2023b) and in the western and central Eromanga Basin (Szczepaniak et al., 2023).


These datasets were then analysed and interpreted in a common 3D domain using a consistent chronostratigraphic framework tied to the geological timescale of 2020, as defined by Hannaford et al. (2022). Confidence maps were also produced to highlight areas that need further investigation due to data gaps, in areas where better seismic depth conversion or improved well formation picks are required.


New interpretations from the second iteration of the 18 surfaces include (1) new consistent and regionally continuous surfaces of Cenozoic down to Permian and older sediments beyond the extent of the GAB across eastern Australia, (2) revised extents and thicknesses of Jurassic and Cretaceous units in the GAB, including those based on distributed thickness, (3) revised extents and thicknesses of Cenozoic LEB units constrained by the underlying GAB 3D model surfaces geometry. These data constraints were not used in the model surfaces generated for the LEB detailed inventory (Evans et al., 2023), and (4) refinements of surfaces due to additional seismic and AEM interpretation used to infill data and knowledge gaps. Significant revisions include:

• The use of additional seismic data to better constrain the base of the Poolowanna-Evergreen formations and equivalents and the top of Cadna-owie Formation and equivalents in the western and central Eromanga Basin, and the extent and thicknesses of the GAB units and Cenozoic Karumba Basin in the Gulf of Carpentaria,

• The use of AEM interpretations to refine the geometry of outcropping units in the northern Surat Basin and the basement surface underneath the UDF region, and

• A continuous 3D geological surface of base Cenozoic sediments across eastern Australia including additional constraints for the Lake Eyre Basin (borehole stratigraphy review), Murray Basin (AEM interpretation) and Karumba Basin (seismic interpretation).


These revisions to the 18 geological and hydrogeological surfaces will help improve our understanding on the 3D spatial distribution of aquifers and aquitards across eastern Australia, from the groundwater recharge areas to the deep confined aquifers. These data compilations and information brought to a common national standard help improve hydrogeological conceptualisation of groundwater systems across multiple jurisdictions to assist water managers to support responsible groundwater management and secure groundwater into the future. These 3D geological and hydrogeological modelled surfaces also provide a tool for consistent data integration from multiple datasets. These modelled surfaces bring together variable data quality and coverage from different databases across state and territory jurisdictions. Data integration at various scale is important to assess potential impact of different water users and climate change. The 3D modelled surfaces can be used as a consistent framework to map current groundwater knowledge at a national scale and help highlight critical groundwater areas for long-term monitoring of potential impacts on local communities and Groundwater Dependant Ecosystems. The distribution and confidence on data points used in the current iteration of the modelled surfaces highlight where data poor areas may need further data acquisition or additional interpretation to increase confidence in the aquifers and aquitards geometry.


The second iteration of surfaces highlights where further improvements can be made, notably for areas in the offshore Gulf of Carpentaria with further seismic interpretation to better constrain the base of the Aptian marine incursion (to better constrain the shape and offshore extent of the main aquifers). Inclusion of more recent studies in the offshore southern and eastern margins of Australia will improve the resolution and confidence of the surfaces, up to the edge of the Australian continental shelf. Revision of the borehole stratigraphy will need to continue where more recent data and understanding exist to improve confidence in the aquifer and aquitard geometry and provide better constraints for AEM and seismic interpretation, such as in the onshore Carpentaria, Clarence-Moreton, Sydney, Murray-Darling basins. Similarly adding new seismic and AEM interpretation recently acquired and reprocessed, such as in the eastern Eromanga Basin over the Galilee Basin, would improve confidence in the surfaces in this area. Also, additional age constraints in formations that span large periods of time would help provide greater confidence to formation sub-divisions that are time equivalent to known geological units that correlate to major aquifers and aquitards in adjacent basins, such as within the Late Jurassic‒Early Cretaceous in the Eromanga and Carpentaria basins. Finally, incorporating major faults and structures would provide greater definition of the geological and hydrogeological surfaces to inform with greater confidence fluid flow pathways in the study area.


This report is associated with a data package including (Appendix A – Supplementary material):

• Nineteen geological and hydrogeological surfaces from the Base Permo-Carboniferous, Top Permian, Base Jurassic, Base Cenozoic to the surface (Table 1.1),

• Twenty-one geological and hydrogeological unit thickness maps from the top crystalline basement to the surface (Figure 3.1 to Figure 3.21),

• The formation picks and constraining data points (i.e., from boreholes, seismic, AEM and outcrops) compiled and used for gridding each surface (Table 2.7).


Detailed explanation of methodology and processing is described in the associated report (Vizy & Rollet, 2023).

Simple

Identification info

Date (Creation)
2023-10-03
Date (Publication)
2023-10-09T03:53:46
Citation identifier
Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/148552

Citation identifier
Digital Object Identifier/https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/148552

Cited responsible party
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Publisher

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Voice
Author

Vizy, J.

MEG Internal Contact
Author

Rollet, N.

MEG Internal Contact
Name

Record

Issue identification

RECORD 2023/044

Purpose

This report and dataset infill some data and knowledge gaps in the Great Artesian Basin, Lake Eyre Basin and Upper Darling Floodplain region building on previous work completed as part of the Great Artesian Basin project and expand the surfaces to the overlying Lake Eyre Basin and to the south, in the Upper Darling Flood plain region.

Status
Completed
Point of contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Point of contact

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Voice
Point of contact

Rollet, N.

MEG Internal Contact
Resource provider

Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division

External Contact
Spatial representation type
Topic category
  • Geoscientific information

Extent

N
S
E
W


Maintenance and update frequency
As needed

Resource format

Title

Product data repository: Various Formats

Website

Data Store directory containing the digital product files

Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes

theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
  • EARTH SCIENCES

Keywords
  • Exploring For The Future

Keywords
  • EFTF

Keywords
  • National Groundwater Systems

Keywords
  • NGS

Keywords
  • 3D geological and hydrogeological surfaces

Keywords
  • Northern Territory

Keywords
  • Queensland

Keywords
  • South Australia

Keywords
  • New South Wales

Keywords
  • Cenozoic

Keywords
  • Mesozoic

Keywords
  • Paleozoic

Keywords
  • Basins

Keywords
  • GAB

Keywords
  • Great Artesian Basin

Keywords
  • Lake Eyre Basin

Keywords
  • Upper Darling Flood Plain

Keywords
  • Clarence-Moreton Basin

Keywords
  • Laura Basin

Keywords
  • Surat Basin

Keywords
  • Eromanga Basin

Keywords
  • Carpentaria Basin

Keywords
  • Sydney Basin

Keywords
  • Murray Basin

Keywords
  • Karumba Basin

Keywords
  • Bight Basin

Keywords
  • Otway Basin

Keywords
  • Gippsland Basin

Keywords
  • Groundwater

Keywords
  • Published_External

Resource constraints

Title

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

Alternate title

CC-BY

Edition

4.0

Website

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Addressee
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
User

Any

Use constraints
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Use constraints
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Other constraints

(c) Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2023

Resource constraints

Title

Australian Government Security Classification System

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified
Classification system

Australian Government Security Classification System

Associated resource

Association Type
Was informed by
Title

Palynological data review of selected wells and new sampling results in the Great Artesian Basin

Citation identifier
145820

Citation identifier
3c6c0e0b-4781-4a1d-b666-340967f30ff9

Website

http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/145820

Link to eCat metadata record landing page

Associated resource

Association Type
Was informed by
Title

Palynological data review of selected boreholes in the Great Artesian, Lake Eyre basins and Upper Darling Floodplain (part 2) ‒ Infilling data and knowledge gaps

Citation identifier
147173

Citation identifier
0cba4b9e-c036-4c3c-8c5e-d0aaaae702d6

Website

http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/147173

Link to eCat metadata record landing page

Associated resource

Association Type
Was informed by
Title

Great Artesian Basin eastern recharge area assessment - northern Surat Basin airborne electromagnetic survey interpretation report

Citation identifier
146502

Citation identifier
55a02ada-e9df-41ed-a274-7d68d2b5d472

Website

http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/146502

Link to eCat metadata record landing page

Associated resource

Association Type
Was informed by
Title

Developing (hydro)geological conceptual models to support improved groundwater management. The Upper Darling Floodplain Project, New South Wales

Citation identifier
147055

Citation identifier
2a47dbf5-aef2-4b87-8929-7b6eec66b429

Website

http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/147055

Link to eCat metadata record landing page

Associated resource

Association Type
Was informed by
Title

Regional stratigraphic correlation transects across the Great Artesian Basin - Eromanga and Surat basins focus study

Citation identifier
145819

Citation identifier
829d1b7f-763f-470d-987b-9bdc402f1f2b

Website

http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/145819

Link to eCat metadata record landing page

Associated resource

Association Type
Was informed by
Title

Regional stratigraphic correlation transects across the Great Artesian, Lake Eyre basins and Upper Darling Floodplain region (part 2) ‒ Infilling data and knowledge gaps

Citation identifier
147243

Citation identifier
e192acb0-586f-4717-8fb4-7f32d7b31825

Website

http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/147243

Link to eCat metadata record landing page

Associated resource

Association Type
Was informed by
Title

Western and Central Eromanga and underlying basins seismic interpretation – Data package

Citation identifier
147900

Citation identifier
8c8f87e3-c41e-4a2c-b025-1c5f190994b9

Website

http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/147900

Link to eCat metadata record landing page

Associated resource

Association Type
Was informed by
Title

Great Artesian Basin geological and hydrogeological surfaces update: report and data package

Citation identifier
145927

Citation identifier
b0b2dbc3-dc35-4941-8aec-b2b1f2a6efd4

Website

http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/145927

Link to eCat metadata record landing page

Associated resource

Association Type
Was informed by
Title

Australian Borehole Stratigraphic Units Compilation (ABSUC) 2023 Version 1.0

Citation identifier
147641

Citation identifier
9eaf47e9-2f3f-4ba8-9b9c-0c9bc023c7b8

Website

http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/147641

Link to eCat metadata record landing page

Associated resource

Association Type
Was informed by
Title

Gulf of Carpentaria Basin seismic data compilation and interpretation - Metadata Statement

Citation identifier
147163

Citation identifier
20b60eea-1da9-4a18-8a26-d1c88a61d5d8

Website

http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/147163

Link to eCat metadata record landing page

Associated resource

Association Type
Was informed by
Title

Eastern Resources Corridor Airborne Electromagnetic Interpretation Data Package

Citation identifier
147992

Citation identifier
ea873fbe-a357-4daf-8df3-70ae3b127bf3

Website

http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/147992

Link to eCat metadata record landing page

Associated resource

Association Type
Operated on by
Title

Great Artesian Basin Digital Data WMS

Citation identifier
132715

Citation identifier
15bbdda1-0ad4-4134-9c5c-f507cafcfa4d

Website

http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/service/ga/132715

Link to eCat metadata record landing page

Associated resource

Association Type
Operated on by
Title

Great Artesian Basin Digital Data WMTS

Citation identifier
132722

Citation identifier
82fbb06d-4744-4099-9975-2c2c3cee1230

Website

http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/service/ga/132722

Link to eCat metadata record landing page

Associated resource

Association Type
Operated on by
Title

Great Artesian Basin Digital Data WCS

Citation identifier
132716

Citation identifier
2f938712-d006-4770-9472-f7772ae81f84

Website

http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/service/ga/132716

Link to eCat metadata record landing page

Associated resource

Association Type
Cross reference
Title

Great Artesian Basin Vshale modelling, Version 2.0 ‒ Data package of Vshale modelling based on the Eastern Australia 3D geological and hydrogeological surfaces update, Version 2.0

Citation identifier
148681

Citation identifier
3087da5a-a602-4620-8d34-d53eced2d0a3

Website

http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/148681

Link to eCat metadata record landing page

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8

Distribution Information

Distributor contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Distributor

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Voice facsimile
OnLine resource

Download the Record (pdf) [40.7 MB]

Download the Record (pdf) [40.7 MB]

Distribution format
  • pdf

OnLine resource

Download the metadata statement (pdf) [7.4 MB]

Download the metadata statement (pdf) [7.4 MB]

Distribution format
  • pdf

OnLine resource

Download Cenozoic sediments-W000_DEM (zip) [382.1 MB]

Download Cenozoic sediments-W000_DEM (zip) [382.1 MB]

Distribution format
  • zip

    File decompression technique

    unzip

OnLine resource

Download Eyre Formation-W050_EYRE (zip) [809.7 MB]

Download Eyre Formation-W050_EYRE (zip) [809.7 MB]

Distribution format
  • zip

    File decompression technique

    unzip

OnLine resource

Download Winton-Mackunda formations and equivalents-W080_BASE_CENOZOIC (zip) [908.2 MB]

Download Winton-Mackunda formations and equivalents-W080_BASE_CENOZOIC (zip) [908.2 MB]

Distribution format
  • zip

    File decompression technique

    unzip

OnLine resource

Download Allaru-Toolebuc Formation and equivalents-W100_BASE_MACKUNDA (zip) [875.7 MB]

Download Allaru-Toolebuc Formation and equivalents-W100_BASE_MACKUNDA (zip) [875.7 MB]

Distribution format
  • zip

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    unzip

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Download Wallumbilla Formation-W130_COREENA (zip) [817.3 MB]

Download Wallumbilla Formation-W130_COREENA (zip) [817.3 MB]

Distribution format
  • zip

    File decompression technique

    unzip

OnLine resource

Download Cadna-owie-Bungil formations-W210_BUNGIL (zip) [900 MB]

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Distribution format
  • zip

    File decompression technique

    unzip

OnLine resource

Download Mooga Sandstone-Murta Formation and equivalents-W220_MOOGA (zip) [894.2 MB]

Download Mooga Sandstone-Murta Formation and equivalents-W220_MOOGA (zip) [894.2 MB]

Distribution format
  • zip

    File decompression technique

    unzip

OnLine resource

Download Orallo Formation and equivalents-W230_ORALLO (zip) [826.2]

Download Orallo Formation and equivalents-W230_ORALLO (zip) [826.2]

Distribution format
  • zip

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    unzip

OnLine resource

Download Gubberamunda Sandstone and equivalents-W240_GUBBERA (zip) [817.9]

Download Gubberamunda Sandstone and equivalents-W240_GUBBERA (zip) [817.9]

Distribution format
  • zip

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    unzip

OnLine resource

Download Westbourne Formation and equivalents-W310_WESTBOURNE (zip) [818.3 MB]

Download Westbourne Formation and equivalents-W310_WESTBOURNE (zip) [818.3 MB]

Distribution format
  • zip

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    unzip

OnLine resource

Download Adori-Springbok Sandstone and equivalents-W330_SPRINGBOK (zip) [813.85 MB]

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Distribution format
  • zip

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OnLine resource

Download Birkhead Formation-Walloon Coal Measures-W410_SPUNCON (zip) [803.5 MB]

Download Birkhead Formation-Walloon Coal Measures-W410_SPUNCON (zip) [803.5 MB]

Distribution format
  • zip

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Download Durabilla Formation and equivalents-W480_DURABILLA (zip) [804.9 MB]

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  • zip

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Download Hutton Sandstone and equivalents-W510_HUTUP (zip) [807.8]

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Download Evergreen Formation and equivalents-W540_EVERUP (zip) [761.4 MB]

Download Evergreen Formation and equivalents-W540_EVERUP (zip) [761.4 MB]

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Download Precipice Sandstone and equivalents-W580_PRECLOW (zip) [1.2 GB]

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Distribution format
  • zip

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OnLine resource

Download Triassic sediments-W610_BUNCON (zip) [1.2 GB]

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Download Top Permian and older sediments-W810_PCTOP (zip) [821.1 MB]

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Download Basement surface-W910_BASEMENT (zip) [884.4 MB]

Download Basement surface-W910_BASEMENT (zip) [884.4 MB]

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OnLine resource

Great Artesian Basin Digital Data WMS

Great Artesian Basin Digital Data WMS - layer groups GAB Geological Unit Surfaces 2023 and GAB Geological Unit Isochores 2023

Distribution format
  • OGC:WMS

OnLine resource

Great Artesian Basin Digital Data WMTS

Great Artesian Basin Digital Data WMTS

Distribution format
  • OGC:WMTS

OnLine resource

Great Artesian Basin Digital Data WCS

Great Artesian Basin Digital Data WCS

Distribution format
  • OGC:WCS

Resource lineage

Statement

This report and associated dataset was completed as part of the EFTF National Groundwater Systems project.

Metadata constraints

Title

Australian Government Security Classification System

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified

Metadata

Metadata identifier
urn:uuid/aee7475f-98e3-4170-b6c2-3b0bec5835af

Title

GeoNetwork UUID

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8
Contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Point of contact

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Voice
Owner

Rollet, N

Geoscience Australia Internal Contact
Point of contact

Rollet, N.

MEG Internal Contact

Type of resource

Resource scope
Document
Name

GA Record

Alternative metadata reference

Title

Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with

uuid

Citation identifier
eCatId/148552

Metadata linkage

https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/aee7475f-98e3-4170-b6c2-3b0bec5835af

Metadata linkage

https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/dashboard/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/aee7475f-98e3-4170-b6c2-3b0bec5835af

Metadata linkage

https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/static/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/aee7475f-98e3-4170-b6c2-3b0bec5835af

Date info (Creation)
2023-06-15T07:06:05
Date info (Revision)
2023-06-15T07:06:05

Metadata standard

Title

AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-3

Title

Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014

Edition

Version 2.0, September 2018

Citation identifier
http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551

 
 

Spatial extent

N
S
E
W


Keywords

3D geological and hydrogeological surfaces Basins Bight Basin Carpentaria Basin Cenozoic Clarence-Moreton Basin EFTF Eromanga Basin Exploring For The Future GAB Gippsland Basin Great Artesian Basin Groundwater Karumba Basin Lake Eyre Basin Laura Basin Mesozoic Murray Basin NGS National Groundwater Systems New South Wales Northern Territory Otway Basin Paleozoic Queensland South Australia Surat Basin Sydney Basin Upper Darling Flood Plain
theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
EARTH SCIENCES

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